Economists and Crises

This report by the Institute for Economic Justice, based on a survey of 920 economics students and graduates across 85 countries, argues that mainstream economics education is failing to prepare students for contemporary crises. It calls for a shift toward a pluralist, interdisciplinary, and critical curriculum that moves beyond the dominance of neoclassical economics to better address the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic bias, and the climate emergency.

• There is a strong consensus among economics students and graduates that the current global crises should prompt a fundamental change in how the subject is taught, with 78.5% of survey respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this view.
• Economics curricula are criticized for over-relying on the price mechanism and neoclassical models, leaving students unprepared for real-world crisis management. Specifically, 76.9% of respondents believe the price mechanism is not the best way to allocate resources during a crisis, and 42.5% felt their degrees did not cover the actual policy measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as furlough schemes.
• The report highlights a significant gap in the teaching of labor value; 44.0% of students and graduates (including 39.2% at the PhD level) did not agree that their courses explained the link between how society values workers and their actual wages, contrasting with the mainstream theory of marginal productivity.
• Students perceive a lack of transparency regarding political bias in the profession, with only 8.5% agreeing that economists' proposals are free from such bias. The report argues that the presentation of economics as a 'value free science' prevents critical interrogation of the assumptions underlying policy recommendations.
• A majority of students (64.5%) believe their economics courses suffer from systemic bias. The report notes that women are 83.9% more likely than men or other identities to identify gender bias in their courses, and highlights the underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities in top academic journals and faculty.
• Economics education is found to be insufficient regarding environmental crises, with 42.3% of respondents disagreeing that they are taught how the economy is connected to or embedded in the environment. The report criticizes the use of models, such as William Nordhaus's DICE model, which may produce 'optimised' recommendations that conflict with scientific warnings of civilizational collapse.
• There is overwhelming support for an interdisciplinary approach to economics, with 89.2% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that economists would be better equipped to handle crises if they interacted more with other social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, politics, and history.

APA

Hanney, O., Watson, C., & Ngidi, B. (n.d.). Economists and Crises. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Economists-and-Crises-1.pdf

Chicago

Hanney, Oliver, Catriona Watson, and Bandile Ngidi. Economists and Crises. Institute for Economic Justice, n.d. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Economists-and-Crises-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hanney |first1=Oliver |last2=Watson |first2=Catriona |last3=Ngidi |first3=Bandile |title=Economists and Crises |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Economists-and-Crises-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hanneyndeconomists, author = {Hanney, Oliver and Watson, Catriona and Ngidi, Bandile}, title = {{Economists and Crises}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Economists-and-Crises-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }